Portalegre is a municipality in Portugal. The population as of 2011 was 22,368, in an area of 447.14 square kilometres (172.64 sq mi). The municipality is located by the Serra de São Mamede in the Portalegre District. Its name comes from the Latin PortusAlacer (meaning “cheerful port”). The municipal holiday is 23 May. According to the 2001 census the city of Portalegre had 15,768 inhabitants in its two parishes (Sé and São Lourenço). These two parishes, plus the eight rural parishes, had a total of 25,608 inhabitants. The current mayor is Adelaide Teixeira, who was elected as an independent.
Although the landscape of the municipalities north of Portalegre is still typically Alentejo, with relatively flat areas alternating with mostly relatively low hills, Portalegre is often described as a transition zone between the drier, flat Alentejo and the Beiras, wetter and mountainous. The terrain is more varied than in the rest of Alentejo in general, which contributes to the landscape having its own peculiar characteristics.
The city is located at an altitude of between 400 and 600 m (1,300 and 2,000 ft), in the transition zone between the relatively flat landscape, but with many low hills to the south and west, and the mountainous system of Serra de São Mamede, which surrounds it to the north, east and southeast. The geology is varied, which translates into the variety of soils, with zones of schist, greywacke, limestone and quartzite. The unique characteristics of the landscape, flora and fauna are at the base of the creation of the Serra de São Mamede Natural Park, which includes a considerable part of the municipality’s area.
The house-museum of José Régio, a famous Portuguese poet, was installed in his home, in which he lived for 34 years. When Régio was accepted at the high school of Mouzinho da Silveira, in Portalegre, this place was a hostel. It was previously an annex of the convent of S. Brás, of which there are still some vestiges, namely the chapel. It served as a headquarters when the peninsular wars were fought, but it was later named Pensão 21. Régio rented a humble room and, as he needed more space (he collected several works of art, amongst which more than 400 representations of Christ), he would rent more space. So, as time went by, he finally became the only inhabitant of the hostel. In 1965, he sold his collection to the municipality of Portalegre with the condition of it buying his house, restore it and transform it into a museum. He lived there until he died, in 1969. The museum was opened to public in 1971.
[caption id="attachment_25409" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Travels of Marco Polo - Marco Polo in China[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Marco Polo (September 15, 1254 – January 8–9, 1324) was a Venetian merchant traveller whose travels are recorded in Livres des merveilles du monde (Book of the Marvels of the World, also known as The Travels of Marco Polo, c. 1300), a book that introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through A...
